Workpiece Data and the XY Zero Point
The Workpiece section is the second of the four sections in the CamDRAW docker, between Profile and Toolpaths. It describes the material you are machining and where the origin sits.
The first thing to know is that filling it in is not compulsory. It exists to make defining the workpiece convenient. You can do the same things with CorelDRAW's own document options, and set the origin by double-clicking the rulers.
Flat machining
For flat work the section shows two dimension fields.
The first field is always the CorelDRAW X axis, labelled Width by default. The second is always the Y axis, labelled Height. Entering values creates or resizes the CorelDRAW page to match.
Those labels are not fixed. They come from the postprocessor, so a preset can call them something more suitable for your work, such as Width and Length. This is set in the presetting file, under the workpiece data input section.
The XY zero point
Below the dimensions is a three by three grid of buttons. Each represents a position on the workpiece: the four corners, the four edge centres and the middle.
Click one to place the origin there. It appears on the CorelDRAW page as a black crosshair.
The eye icon next to the grid shows or hides that marker. Hiding it is useful when it sits on top of artwork you are working on; it does not change the origin itself.
Which position to choose depends on how you set up on the machine. A corner is the usual choice for sheet material clamped against stops. The centre is more convenient for round parts and for work that is aligned by eye.
WCS Call
Underneath sits a dropdown labelled WCS Call, for the workpiece coordinate system written into the program.
None means no call is written. The numbered entries write the corresponding zero point command, typically G54 for the first. The text written for each is defined in the postprocessor, so a control using different commands can be accommodated.
If your machine setup already selects a coordinate system before the program runs, leaving this on None avoids overriding it.
Rotary machining
When the active profile uses a rotary postprocessor, the section changes.
Instead of Width and Height you enter Length and Circumference, describing a cylindrical part. A checkbox in front of the second field lets you enter a diameter instead, if that is what you have to hand.
The CorelDRAW page then represents the unrolled surface of the cylinder, so you lay out artwork on the full circumference as a flat sheet.
Two extra settings appear:
Z zero point places the Z origin either on the cylinder surface or on the cylinder axis, depending on how your machine is set up.
Machining above or below the cylinder axis selects outside or inside machining. Below the axis is what you need for internal work such as engraving the inside of a ring.
Which axis carries the circumference can be swapped in the postprocessor, for machines whose rotary axis runs the other way round.
A practical note
Set the workpiece before creating operations. Toolpaths are calculated against the geometry and the origin in place at the time, and changing the origin afterwards means regenerating the operations. Right-click an operation in the Toolpaths list and choose Generate to recalculate it.